Olmec Stone Figure of a Kneeling Man, Middle Preclassic, circa 900-600 BC

Lot Closed

November 21, 07:16 PM GMT

Estimate

30,000 - 50,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from an American Private Collection

Olmec Stone Figure of a Kneeling Man

Middle Preclassic, circa 900-600 BC

Height: 8 ⅜ in (21.3 cm)

Private Collection, acquired in 1957
William Spratling (1900-1967), Taxco el Viejo
Private Collection
American Private Collection, acquired from the above in 1958

Jean M. Borgatti and Richard Brilliant, Likeness and Beyond: Portraits from Africa and the World, New York, 1990, p. 149, cat. no. 96
Michael D. Coe, ed. The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, Princeton, 1995, p. 143, cat. no. 13

This figure is one of a small and important corpus of kneeling figures, all portraying confident and authoritative individuals, often bearded. The kneeling position has been identified with shamanic transformation, and this corpus of figures uses the posture to reference power and status.

The power and strength of this bearded figure are aptly conveyed by his robust and compact musculature and the engaging thrust of the head. Carved with deeply set eyes perhaps once inlaid, the mouth is gently relaxed. The coiffure is crosshatched on the front half and transitions to finely striated locks down the back of the head. His chest is carefully modeled to show the ribcage and pectorals; the hands press down on the knees and the feet are folded beneath him.

Olmec art is grounded on the human figure and the manifestations it can assume through the mystical power of transformation. The shaman/ruler was the actor who connected to the supernatural and cosmic forces that ensured the rain and the harvest. The performative actions, whether in a distilled human form or the otherworldly appearance of stages of transformation, reinforced the status and authority of the ruler. The ability, even the suggestion of possible transformation, was ultimately a highly effective and powerful means of communication.

"Transformation is the central mystery of Olmec ideology and ritual, and informs the art style at its most fundamental level." (Michael D. Coe, ed., The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, Princeton, 1995, p. 126).

For the other figures of this genre in museum collections, see Michael D. Coe, ed., ibid., p. 142, cat. no. 12 for the figure in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; p. 144, cat. no. 14 for the figure in The Cleveland Museum of Art; p. 170, cat. no. 42 for the figure in the Princeton University Art Museum; and p. 171, cat. no. 43 for the figure at Tulane University, New Orleans; for two figures in the more advanced stage of this posture, see p. 172, cat. no. 44, and p. 174, cat. no. 46.